Posts Tagged ‘autism visual supports’

For children with autism spectrum disorder making friends and social interactions are difficult, this is due to the social skills impairments associated with autism spectrum disorder.

For those parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder it can be frustrating trying to interact with your child when they appear detached living in their own world,preferring their own company, sameness, and routines.

This detachment is due to autistic social skills impairments, these autistic social skills impairments are common in autism.

Typically developing children will form natural bonds with parents, be inquisitive and have the desire to please and interact with those within their world both family and peers. However with autism children social skills are not developed naturally, and in most cases children with autism spectrum disorder will need direct teaching of social and communication skills to help them develop socially.

For many parents the idea of their child being lonely and not making friends is difficult, many children with autism spectrum disorder choose to play alone. But some kids with autism for example those with high functioning or mild autism do want to be social but lack the ability to form friendships and be social.

Many parents turn to autism visual supports and tools to help their child learn social and communication skills effectively. For example a popular choice with parents is a Making friends social skills story. Generally kids with autism are visual learners and respond very well to autism visual supports and tools such as autism social skills stories, this has now become the answer many parents are looking for, and over the past twenty years autism social stories have grown into one of the most significant autism supports available.

Using autism social stories as a strategy to help children with autism to make and maintain friendships has proven to be very successful.

Experts agree using autism social stories as a strategy is beneficial. Therefore using a making friends social skills story for kids with autism can help you show your child how they can make friends visually. Generally kids with autism benefit from the visual images and representations in the social story, using the social story as a visual step by step plan to help them master and understand the skill or behaviour such as making friends.

These social stories show kids with autism visually with appropriate text the what, why, where and when helping them understand and feel more comfortable with situations, skills and behaviours.

For example an making friends social skills story for kids with autism will describe and visually show the autistic child how to approach making friends, what they can do, focusing on the key points the social cues, it describes and shows the child what, why, where and when and suggests possible responses the child might like to give. It will suggest possible language for approaching other children, that autistic children can easily understand and use.

To learn more about autism social stories and how they could benefit your autistic child visit any of the following sites:

For most children with autism lacking social interaction skills is common. Many children with autism will want to make and have friends but will find this process confusing and stressful.

Lacking social interaction skills is often referred to as the autism triad of impairments but those autism triad of impairments will vary from child to child.

The actual degree a child is affected with the autism triad of impairments will generally depend on the individual’s social development.

Some children with autism on the lower end of the autism scale may have little or no language and may have other related disabilities. On the other end of the autism scale those children with asperger syndrome will often be schooled in mainstream schools and be of average to above average intelligence. This set of individuals will probably desire friendships.

Those children with asperger syndrome or mild autism will probably want friendships but making and maintaining those friendships will be a struggle, unfortunately it is believed around 40% of autistic children in mainstream education will at some point be a victim to bullying.

For most typically developing children recess and break times are a time of fun and a chance to run around and interact with their peers, this is “normal behavior”

However this is not the case with an autistic child, often the sound of the bell can fill them with fear and dread. Autistic children prefer structure, routine and dislike surprises, noises and the unstructured chaos of free time. They find choice making difficult and can sometimes be overwhelmed by recess and break times.

A lot of autistic children find recess confusing, there are a lot of choices to be made, what to play with, who to play with, what to do, so many choices a “typical child” will take for granted and enjoy, this is not the case with an autistic child.

For example a simple game, the autistic child may choose to join in with their peers, but may find comprehending the rules confusing, they may not understand the need for the rules, and then just as they start to understand the rules may change or the game may stop.

The other end to this is those children with autism that will stick rigidly to the rule and this can sometimes take the fun out of the game for the other normally developing children, they may loose interest and unfortunately the autistic child may not understand why this is and become distressed.

Some autistic children can become overwhelmed by noise, which can make recess or break time a painful and stressful time, you may find them pacing up and down in their own little world until recess is over and they can return to the routine and structure of the classroom.

All these factors can make autism and finding friends difficult to say the very least.

So how can you help with the problem of autism and finding friends?

Generally as we discussed earlier kids with autism prefer structure and routine, this can be achieved by the use of autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories, these resources are used in the classroom to add structure and routine the child’s day.

These autism visual supports can also be used to help kids with autism cope with recess and break times taking away some of anxieties they may feel around this time of the day.

The autism visual supports can also be used to help autistic children understand how to maintain friendships, by teaching the autistic child how to use conversation, how to pretend play, how to be kind, respect peoples feelings and personal space, how to share and make choices and so on, all social skills we take for granted, but an autistic child will need to be taught these social skills directly.

Therefore the perfect place to start with autism and making friends is with autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories to teach the autistic child the social skills necessary for making and maintaining friendships and dealing with recess and break times.

You can find appropriate social skills stories and other autism resources for kids with autism for download at:

Common to autism are deficits with: Social skills, communication (verbal and non-verbal) skills and imagination skills, this is known as the triad of autistic impairments or social skills deficits, and WILL affect all children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Using Autism Visual Supports CAN HELP those on the spectrum overcome Social skills deficits.

The majority of children and young people with Autistic Spectrum DisorderARE visual thinkers and learners, this means they think in pictures (pictures being the first language and speech/words the second language).

Using visual tools for Autistic Spectrum Disorder as a strategy in the home, in school, at work and while out CAN help children with autism better understand social interactions, communication both verbal and non-verbal, use appropriate behaviours and better understand social settings, skills and behaviours.

Autism Visual Supports such as: Visual Flash Cards, PECS, Visual Social Story Cards and Printable Autism Social Skill Stories can be easily implemented and USED to overcome many difficulties.

What are Visual Flash Cards?

Visual Flash Cards are communication tools which are small laminated pieces of card. These cards can be used on their own or with other visual tools for Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Visual Flash Cards use an image with accompanying text, many children with autism struggle with instructions, for example a visual flash card may display an image of a washing your hands with the words I wash my hands under it.

What are Visual Social Story Cards?

Visual Social Story Cards work in the same manner as Printable Autism Social Skills Stories, giving children with autism answers and solutions to the problems they have with social, communication and imagination skills and behaviours.

Visual Social Story Cards are simpler forms of regular social stories, the social skills story is broken into smaller sections, with a single image and text on each
page generally A6 size.

What are Printable Autism Social Skills Stories?

Parents, caregivers and teachers USE Social Stories, as treatments for autism which WILL help prepare children with ASD for various situations, behaviours and skills; for example:

Transitions

New beginnings

Making choices

Changes to routines

Understanding behaviours

Re-enforcing already learnt skills

Learning new skills and behaviours

Unexpected/surprise events, happenings

Dealing with Frustration, Anger and Stress

Giving an insight into the thoughts and feelings of others

In-fact anything your child on the autism spectrum needs help to understand and learn.

The social skills story acts like a visual framework or plan, should be colourful and use appropriate images/pictures to VISUALLY show the child with ASD what is happening and WHY

Printable Autism Social Skills Stories answers the “wh” questions: who, where, why, when and what as well as “HOW” and MUST provide children with autism spectrum disorder an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others, which is an area of marked weakness for children on the autism spectrum scale.

Autism social skills stories are generally written in WORD FORMAT as no two children with an ASD are ever going to be the same. AND WE ALL USE DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY, making autism social skills stories easy to tweak and EDIT as well as add personal information too, is very important

To learn more about Using Autism Visual Supports and get downloads visit:

Commonly the vast majority of children with autism WILL struggle with the everyday tasks and skills that a typically developing individual will have NO PROBLEMS with, like for example making friends, asking questions appropriately, joining in play and so on.

It’s mainly due to the individuals social skills deficits which ARE common to ALL with Autism Spectrum Disorder and in many cases sensory processing issues that many children with autism have difficulties with otherwise “normal” skills and behaviours.

It is therefore recommended that using autism visual supports CAN be beneficial. Autism visual supports are designed specifically to help overcome some of the difficulties many children and young people with autism face daily.

Recent autism treatment research suggests that autism visual supports like visual support cards, social stories, PECS communication boards and visual schedules all HAVE a large part to play in the treatment and development of social and communication skills for many autistic kids.

Parents CAN NOW find sites offering autism visual supports which ARE run by parents and professionals that offer support and other autistic resources.

Sites which offer autistic resources can be found easily using search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing and through Directories.

The World CAN be a very confusing place to a child on the spectrum, many of the everyday skills we take for granteda child with autism CAN FIND difficult and stressful.

Typically many families with an autistic child can find even supposedly fun activities like visiting relatives, a trip to the shop, supermarket, buying new clothes can be difficult when you have a child on the autism spectrum.

Help, is what most families with an autistic child need as well as trusted supports that have been proven to work.

Help such as social stories ARE beneficial. What are social stories?

Probably the most significant autism visual supports ARE social stories. Asocial story is much like a role model or visual plan used to describe a skill or situation in terms of relevant social cues and prompts.

Today social stories are EASY TO IMPLEMENT need no formal training to use and can be edited to suit all terminology and autistic kids no matter where on the spectrum scale they fall.

As one of the major autistic resources used to help teach, support and HELP individuals with autism to overcome social skills deficits social skills stories ARE available to download TODAY from sites like http://www.autismsocialstories.com

A social skills story will answer the important “wh” questions –who, where, why, when and what as well as “HOW” and give an insight into the thoughts, emotions and nonverbal communications of others helping the autistic child get a handle on the skill or situation which can reduce tantrums, meltdowns and general stress for everyone.

So for example if the family want to visit Granny introducing a social skills story can help describe to the child with autism exactly what to expect reducing anxiety and what is expected of them reducing stress. The social skills story is editable, can be personalized, printed for convenience and is portable so can be popped into a bag making it an ideal autistic support.

Sites which offer IMMEDIATE ACCESS to autism visual supports like social stories and visual support cards for a minimal fee like: http://www.autismsocialstories.comare run by experts, offer social stories and support to families and individuals with autism.

(ASD) Autism spectrum disorder will typically affect probably 1 in every 150 babies born. On average more boys than girls are affected by (ASD) autism spectrum disorder, the reason for this is still unknown, and as yet there is no cure.

But there are various treatments, methods and techniques available which will help you understand and also give you the necessary tools and strategies available to help you cope with any difficulties encountered for your child after a diagnosis of autism.

All kids with autism will display the triad of autistic impairments. However the individual’s impairments will vary in severity from person to person, as no two individuals are ever the same.

The triad of autistic impairments means social skills deficits and all kids with autism will have some form of social skills deficit. Social skills deficits are typical in autism and probably the most significant hurdle to overcome for most kids with autism.

Generally all people receiving a diagnosis of autismhave a degree of social skills deficits. However these ARE treated and can be eased with the use of tools and treatments for autism such as autism social skills resources, for example PECS cards, flash cards, autism social skills stories and so on…

At this point I would like to take a brief moment to look at autism techniques and tips to help teach social skills.

We do know by looking into studies and research that it is suggested that the vast majority of children with autismare predominantly visual learners, this means they think in pictures. Therefore with this in mind focus needs to be given to autism visual supports; opposed to written or verbal instruction.

It is also typical that some children with autism will tend to have a short attention span. Many autistic children can understand picture instruction easier than written or verbal information. It is therefore recommended that the use of autism visual supports is typically more effective for kids on the spectrum. Teachers, parents and care givers are commonly using autism visual supports as appropriate autism techniques and tips to help teach social skills.

Today the internet makes finding autism visual supports easy.

A good place to start your search for age appropriate autism visual supports which can help you teach autism social skills is an autism social skills resources site. These sites are generally packed full of appropriate materials which are used to teach autism social skills such as autism social skills stories.

Autism social skills stories are probably one of the most significant treatments of autism used by parents, care givers and teachers today.

Autism social skills stories help pave the way to positive behaviors and social skills teaching. Generally visually rich with appropriate first person text in a manner that autistic children will be able to understand and follow successfully.

Autism social stories help with transitions, changes to routines which is a marked difficulty for kids on the spectrum, learning new skills, promoting positive behaviors, hygiene skills and much more.

Download appropriate and expertly researched and written autism social skills stories from:

Many children with autismspectrum disorder do want to make and have friends. But having autism spectrum disorder can make this difficult.

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects a persons development in three main areas: social interactions, communication difficulties and imagination skills.

These developmental difficulties are referred to as the autism triad of impairments and it is this which hinders children with autism spectrum disorder.

The autism triad of impairments will vary from child to child as no two children will ever be the same.

Some children with autism on the lower end of the autism scale may have little or no language and may have other related disabilities.

By contrast for children on the other end of the autism scale, with for example asperger syndrome will often be schooled in mainstream schools and be of average to above average intelligence. It is generally this end of the autism scale, those with asperger syndrome and high functioning autism whom probably desire friendships.

For this set of children with asperger syndrome, high functioning autism or mild autism making and maintaining friendships will be a struggle. A staggering fact is that unfortunately it is believed that around 40% of autistic children in mainstream education will at some point be a victim to bullying.

A typically developing child in mainstream education will eagerly await recess and break times to let off steam and play with their friends, it is their time to run around and socially interact with their peers and have fun.

However for an autistic child, often the sound of the bell can fill them with fear and dread. Autistic children prefer structure, routine and dislike surprises, noises and the unstructured chaos of free time. They find choice making difficult will quite often become overwhelmed by recess and break times.

For many autistic children recess is a confusing part of the school day. There are a lot of choices to be made, what to play with, who to play with, what to do, so many choices a normal child will take for granted and enjoy, this is not the case for an autistic child.

For example a simple playground game that a typically developing child may enjoy, can be confusing to an autistic child. The autistic child may choose to join in with their peers, but may be unable to follow the rules of the game. For typically developing children this can be frustrating needing to stop and reconfirm the rules constantly. The child on the spectrum will not be deliberately being awkward, they probably do not understand the need for rules, and then just as they start to understand this set of rules, the rules may change, or the game may stop.

However, for some children with autism that do understand the rules this may also prove a problem, as they may stick rigidly to the rules which in some cases can take the fun out of the game for the other normally developing children. The typically developing children may simply loose interest and unfortunately the child on the spectrum may not understand why this is and become distressed.

Some children with autism spectrum disorder are hypo or hypersensitive and can become overwhelmed by noise, which can make recess or break time a painful and stressful time. They may be seen pacing up and down in their own little world until recess is over and they can return to the routine and structure of the classroom.

All these factors can make autism and finding friends difficult to say the very least.

So how can you help with the problem of autism and finding friends?

Generally as discussed earlier kids with autism prefer structure and routine, this can be achieved by the use of autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories, these resources are used in the classroom to add structure and routine the child’s day.

These autism visual supports can also be used to help kids with autism cope with recess and break times taking away some of anxieties they may feel around this time of the day.

The autism visual supports can also be used to help kids with autism understand how to maintain friendships, by teaching the autistic child how to use conversation, how to pretend play, how to be kind, respect peoples feelings and personal space, how to share and make choices and so on, all social skills we take for granted, but an autistic child will need to be taught these social skills directly.

Therefore the perfect place to start with autism and making friends is with autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories to teach the autistic child the social skills necessary for making and maintaining friendships and dealing with recess and break times.

You can find appropriate social skills stories and other autism resources for kids with autism for download at:

We use visual supports daily we read newspapers, magazines, leaflets, maps and books. We watch TV, adverts, news, documentaries, we use computers, the internet all these things are forms of information that we use to help us in our daily lives.

Can you imagine how your life would be if you were to have all those supports removed? Imagine how difficult and boring life could become? Imagine how isolated and cut off from the things happening in the world or our own neighborhood we could and would become.

We use supports to achieve success reach our goals, support us and so many other different ways. For people with autism visual supports are used in much the same way.

For many parents, care givers, teachers and other professionals using autistic visual supports to teach social and communication skills is very beneficial.

Generally people with autism are visual learners, meaning they will understand visual cues, prompts, instruction and supports rather than the written word or verbal explanation.

Therefore using autistic visual supports to teach social and communication skills has been used for many years. With the introduction of probably now one of the most significant autistic visual supports almost twenty years being that of social skills stories.

For many parents of autistic children using autistic visual supports can help them teach their youngster skills such as personal space and hygiene routines. They are also used to help with situations like getting a hair cut, visiting the dentist, shopping and so on.

Many parents of autistic children report their child can become easily upset and distracted making autistic visual supports an excellent tool in situations like visiting grandparents, going to a wedding, attending church etc.

Teachers of autistic students report tremendous success rates when using autistic visual supports to teach social and communication skills such as classroom rules, how to behave in assembly as well as at other times like recess.

Teachers of autistic students can use social skills stories in and around school effectively, plus social skills stories are portable meaning they are easy to use, in all areas of the school making them ideal in the playground too.

Downloads of visual supports for autism like social skills stories can be found at sites such as:

Sourcing visual supports for autism that can be implemented with ease such asautism social skills stories to help autistic children, students and adults gain more understanding of the world around them and how to cope with certain activities and events that they may struggle to comprehend, is now much quicker and easier thanks to the internet.

Sites offering information on using autistic visual supports to teach social and communication skills as well as immediate downloads of autism social skills stories can be found easily using search engines such as Google sites such as

Provide parents of autistic children as well as teachers of autistic students, care givers and other professional’s suitableautism social skills stories for all autistic children and autistic students.

For children with autism spectrum disorder making friends and social interactions are difficult, this is due to the social skills deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.

For those parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder it can be frustrating trying to interact with your child when they appear detached living in their own world,preferring their own company, sameness, and routines.

This detachment is due to autistic social skills deficits, these autistic social skills deficits are common in autism.

Typically developing children will form natural bonds with parents, be inquisitive and have the desire to please and interact with those within their world both family and peers. However with autism children social skills are not developed naturally, and in most cases children with autism spectrum disorder will need direct teaching of social and communication skillsto help them develop socially.

For many parents the idea of their child being lonely and not making friends is difficult, many children with autism spectrum disorder choose to play alone. But some kids with autism spectrum disorder for example those with high functioning or mild autism do want to be social but lack the ability to form friendships and be social.

Many parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder turn to autism visual supports to help their child learn social and communication skills effectively. For example a popular choice with parents is a how to make friends social story.Generally kids with autism are visual learners and respond very well to autism visual supports such as social skills stories, this has now become the answer many parents are looking for, and over the past twenty years autism social stories have grown into one of the most significant autism supports available.

Using autism social stories as a strategy to help children with autism to make and maintain friendships has proven to be very successful.

Experts agree using autism social stories as a strategy is beneficial. Therefore using a how to make friends social story for kids with autism can help you show your child how they can make friends visually. Generally kids with autism benefit from the visual images and representations in the social story, using the social story as a visual step by step plan to help them master and understand the skill or behavior such as making friends.

These social stories show kids with autism visually with appropriate text the what, why, where and when helping them understand and feel more comfortable with situations, skills and behaviors.

For example an how to make friends social story for kids with autism will describe and visually show the autistic child how to approach making friends, what they can do, focusing on the key points the social cues, it describes and shows the child what, why, where and when and suggests possible responses the child might like to give. It will suggest possible language for approaching other children, that autistic children can easily understand and use.

To learn more about autism social stories and how they could benefit your autistic child visit any of the following sites:

Many parents of children with autism experience communication problems with their autistic child.

And trust in autism visual supportssuch as social skills stories as a strategy for teaching and re-enforcing social skills and behaviors. Many parents of children with autism, care givers and autistic educators use social skills stories and report tremendous successes.

In recent studies it was shown that these simple yet effective autism visual supports are used widely, as a tool for HELPING parents of children with autism and autistic educators deal with behavior, communication and social issues their autistic child or student is finding hard to understand or cope with.

Used as autistic visual supports for teaching social and communication skills to children with autism social skills stories can be downloaded and implemented quickly and easily from various sources such as http://www.autismsocialstories.com and are used effectively to teach social skills and behaviors.

The fact is kids with autism are often overwhelmed by noises, sensations, and activities that the rest of us consider “everyday” or “normal” which can lead to communication and autistic behavior difficulties.Which can then in turn lead to tantrums and on occasion’s violent outbursts. They dislike surprises, and respond well to repetition.

This is where many parents of children with autism find social skills stories can be very beneficial to help with teaching social and communication skills to children with autism such as personal space, temper tantrums, violent outbursts, healthy hygiene habits, how to ask questions, how to make friends and many other issues, events, activities and situations are dealt with through the use of social skills stories.

Social skills stories are simple, understandable, first-person stories with visual aids that can help to calm and address even the most severe behaviors. Social skills stories work because they put an end to the stress, worry, and anxiety both you and your child with autism feel whenever a routine changes, a new skill needs mastering, or something changes, even something small. They help YOU teach YOUR child with autism vital coping strategies for social skills both everyday and less common.

To download and learn more about social skills stories for autistic children and how they are used for teaching social and communication skills to children with autism visit:

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder which causes impairments in the way individual’s process information.

Autism is characterized by social, communication, imagination and interaction skills deficits which are often referred to as autistic social skills deficits.

Generally all autistic individuals will have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions. Autism spectrum disorder can make it difficult for autistic individuals to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. In some cases, aggressive and/or self-injuries behavior may be present.

Autistic individuals may also experience sensory sensitivities in the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

Generally autistic children and adults tend to be hyper-sensitive or hypo-sensitive.

Deficits in autistic sensory sensitivities: Touch, autistic childrenmay have difficulties in discriminating between objects by touch alone, for example they may be unable to locate an object even if it is in their own pocket.

Sometimes autistic children will have a high threshold for pain and may injure themselves without realizing they have done so, which can be quite alarming for parents.

Some autistic children will appear clumsy and have poor body awareness which can make them bump into objects and people.Sometimes they may fall down a lot. They may use too much or not enough force when pushing, pulling, lifting or holding on to things even people!

They may have poor gross motor movements and poor upper body muscle strength. Some autistic individuals will have difficulties with fine motor skills they will struggle to hold coins or use a zip.

Some autistic toddlers can be confused and interpret their mother’s body as part of their own.

Some autistic children are sensitive to the feel of certain fabrics and substances they will dislike the tags in their clothes, as well as being touched etc.

These are all commonly reported autistic sensory sensitivities issues by parents of autistic children.

Parents of autistic children report significant autistic social skills deficits in touch with their autistic children. Social skills stories have been used as a means of helping those individuals with autism that have sensory sensitivities issues find ways of coping with the affects of sensory dysfunctions appropriately.

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Social skills stories can be used for issues with touch for example an autistic child may be unaware of their own personal and other people’s personal space and insist on standing too close to other people, which can make others feel very uncomfortable using a social story in this situation can be very beneficial.

A social story for touch, for example appropriate touching, when it is ok to touch and not ok to touch for example keeping hands to your self and so on.

Also, social story touch for sniffing someoneâ€™s hair, hitting, dentist and so on all useful for autistic kids with sensory issues.

Social stories are widely used by parents of autistic children, teachers and other professionals to help teach and re-enforce essential and daily life social, communication, interaction and imagination skills to children with autism.

Visual supports are used by all of us daily, our newspapers, magazines, leaflets and books. We watch TV, adverts, news, documentaries we use computers, the internet all these and more are used by us to gain information.

You may consult a map, a cook book, instructions or tele-text, again visual supports used by many of us.

Generally visual supports are used to help us function on a daily basis.

But what if all your visual supports were removed no TV, no computer, books, papers and magazines etc. Imagine how difficult and boring life could become? Imagine how isolated and cut off from the things happening in the world or our own neighborhood we could and would become.

Autism is a bit like this, isolated, however unlike normally developing people, autistic people lack enthusiasm and interest in the rest of the world or indeed even in their own neighborhood.

However as with the rest of us autistic people still need visual supports just different onesâ€¦Autistic people are visual learners, meaning they will understand visual cues, prompts, instruction and supports rather than the written word or verbal explanation.

Appropriate visual supports for autism include autism visual supports such as autism visual timetables, mini schedules, Now and Then and choice boards, emotion, flash and PECS cards as well as autism social skills stories and other visual supports for autism, like file folder games and so on

So how to use visual supports to help people with autism

Autistic children and adults can become easily distracted and lack interest in their surroundings, other people and the task in hand making the use of autism visual supports an excellent tool.

Teachers of autistic students report tremendous success rates when autism visual supports have been implemented.

Teachers and parents can now download excellent visual supports for autism, which unfortunately used to be hard to source and would take many months of waiting and reports to obtain.

Appropriate visual supports for autism can now be found and implemented with ease; autism resources like autism visual timetables, mini schedules, autismsocial skills stories and other autism resources available quickly and easily to help autistic children, students and adults gain more understanding of the world around them and how to cope with certain activities and events that they may struggle to comprehend.

When trying to understand how to use visual supports to help people with autism a good place to start is a well stocked, researched and supported autism resources site.

Suitable autism resources like autism social skillsstories play a vital part in the lives of autistic individuals.

Download autism social skills stories on any topic, activity, social skill, event etc that the autistic individual is struggling with.

Follow the link below to download suitable social skills stories for all autistic individuals as well as suitable social skills stories for autistic students.

We all use visual supports on a daily basis, we read the paper, watch TV, look in magazines, at maps, recipes and timetables there are of cause lot’s more visual supports we use daily.

This is no different with autistic individuals they too use visual supports to enhance their own daily lives and to help find meanings, instructions and directions, pretty similar to how a normally developing person will.

However with autistic individuals; autism visual prompts, supports and cues are also used to help the autistic individual also organize and sequence events, activities and tasks enhancing their ability to understand, anticipate and participate in those events.Â

The autism visual supports are used also to supplement written or verbal instructions for example an autistic educator will gain the autistic students attention during teaching and make learning easier by adding visual supports to the autistic students lesson like images, pictures and diagrams supporting what the autistic educator is trying to teach.

The autism visual support is also used as a means of communication for example in visual schedules, mini schedules, now and then boards, choices boards, PECS cards and flash cards to name a few, there are of cause many other forms of visual supports for autism.

We see visual supports for autism used as reminders of how to deal with situations for example a mini schedule to explain to an autistic student how to use the toilet at school.

They are used also to remind the autistic child and student of how to communicate verbally, giving them autism visual prompts and instruction of how and when it is appropriate to speak, how to use their words, and how to act and behave both in the autism classroom, at home, out shopping and at family or public gathering as well as other occasions and events.

An autistic child may have difficulties in understanding verbal communication and will rely solely on autism visual supports as a means of communicating their own wants and needs. They can be used to help the autistic children make sense of lessons and other situations or activities they are struggling to cope with like for example autistic children may struggle with brushing their teeth, visiting the dentist, hairdresser or other tasks such as making their bed, making a drink or making and maintain friendships.

There are many autism visual supports used with great success in the autism classroom, schools, clinics and at home like autism social skills stories, PECS cards and flash cards, these can be readily found on the internet and implemented very easily.

Autistic children are generally visual learners, meaning they respond better to visual clues rather than the spoken or written word.

Autistic students often show strengths in rote memory, concrete thinking and visual-spatial relationships. They will often have deficits in communication, relationships, abstract thinking and social cognition.

Therefore strategies for teaching autistic students are better placed by keeping this in mind.

Autism visual supports are generally used to help the autistic student learn, communicate, demonstrate good behavior patterns and learn self control.

The main advantage for an autistic educator being; that with an autistic student sometimes there attention span can be limited, so therefore, your spoken words can be forgotten and misinterpreted.

The visual cue, image or picture is not forgotten it is there to see. The autistic student can look at the image and collect important information, description, key points and understand what is expected from them, or how to perform a task or learn the skill being taught.

An important point to remember is that autistic children do not process information in the same way as a normally developing child and may not understand the command you are giving vocally. But in picture format it is clear, there for them to see and understand.

Communication deficits are a major problem with autism spectrum disorder students.

In addition to this autistic students are also sensitive to stimuli, for example background noises in the classroom, like for example low chatter, rustle of paper a book being turned and so, they find it difficult to block out these noises and can become anxious and easily distracted from the lesson in hand.

This is where autism visual supports will also benefit the autistic student. The autism visual supports enable the autistic student focus on the message, task or lesson.

An autistic educator can use many different forms of visual cues and supports for an autistic student depending on the student abilities and understanding.

An excellent tool for this being autism social skills stories. These strategies for teaching autistic students can come in various formats, to suit the autistic student’s needs and abilities.

The autism social skills for the classroom will support appropriate behaviors, define rules, describe appropriate steps for an activity and give structure to a routine.

The social skills stories are a pictorial representation describing a social situation, lesson, activity or event, with appropriate social cues and responses. Using key focus on the main points also giving the autistic student a definite action and instruction on how to understand and cope.

Research and studies into the use of autism social skills stories shows a marked increase in the autistic student’s social skills, autism social skills for the classroom and understanding as well as a proven method to help keep the student on task.

Social skills stories are widely used in classrooms by autistic educators to help the autistic student understand, manage, control and implement correct behaviors as well as helping the autistic student to learn, communicate and feel more comfortable within the classroom and on the playground, by using autism social skills stories for the classroom…

To gain access to autism social skills stories for the classroom go to